Filton

There have been many discussions and outbursts and name calling about plans and the lack of for having a new Railway Station on the Railway Triangle. There is also talk of having a new “Parkway” station at Elmbridge. The Railway Traingle seems to be scuppered on a commercial basis, that apparently the Network Rail refuse to build a new station (though I would still like to see the official paperwork) and the Elmbridge idea is being dropped too. However a great opportunity would be to have a smaller station just outside Quedgeley that would help the many commuters who live in the Quedgeley, Kingsway and Hardwicke areas to have a viable alternative to get to Bristol, Cheltenham, London and Swindon. It would be a fantastic addition to the area.

Now as far as I am aware, there are no plans, I’m mealy working off a comment made in one of the stories on TiG, but what a sensible idea. When you consider that a lot of people moving into the likes of Kingsway, Quedgeley and the newer housing developments are people who commute, it could really benefit local residents. As well as that, it could support the current bus Network by providing another way of getting into the city.

My Main office is in Bristol, near Filton-Abbey Wood station. There is a train that runs from Gloucester to Filton (and beyond) which can get me into the office and back to Gloucester pretty well. The downside is that I can’t get to the station in a timely manner and the commute ends up being around 2 hours door to door each way, so that’s 4 hours before my 8-10 hour day. it’s just not on. But with a Quedgeley Station, I could make it much easier and cheaper, especially being able to use my bike too. It could easily serve london trains as well which would be a huge bonus. That is just me, I know a lot of people who work in various parts of Bristol and drive in, not to mention Cheltenham and Swindon. They might even put an extra carriage on too!

So it seems, to my mind, a very good idea, and it would be great to see if Network Rail would be willing to at least look and maybe model it. I wonder who I would have to talk to about it? I think with the reality of no viable plan for the Railway Triangle, this could be a real asset to the City and tot he immediate local area.